Do you remember from Part I that conflict comes because we don’t accept that we are all different by design, but rather we fight it and try to make others into our clones? Do you remember that my friend chose the higher ground and realized what I needed in order to move forward? She “brought out the best” of my God-given design. Do you remember that I ended Part I of Who Am I? Who Are You? Why Do We Do the Things We Do? by asking, “Wouldn’t you like to be able to do that as well as my friend did?”

Depending on our design, we each handle those areas of potential conflict differently, whether in:
1. problem solving (either reflective or aggressive)
2. processing information (either realistic or optimistic)
3. managing change (either dynamic or predictable), and
4. facing risk (either pioneering or structured)

According to Ministry Insights there are 384 distinctive personality styles. And their Leading From Your Strengths personality assessment has been a tool that God has used in my life to bring acceptance. First, as I accept my own personal God-given design and then as I accept the God-given design of others. This assessment has been a personal life-changer for me. I much more readily understand why people act and react the way they do. Life is more fun because I take fewer things personally. And…I can enjoy and encourage others to embrace their own design.

Leading From Your Strengths (LFYS) Assessments were designed by Rodney Cox and John Trent. The three goals for creating the assessments are:

1. Understand how you are wired from the inside (how God made you)
2. Value the strength of others
3. Blend the differences among the team members and harness each person’s unique strength.

One important difference you will notice about the Ministry Insights assessment vs. others that you may have taken is this: Many of the others have a secular message, which centers on you, the individual. But the purpose of LFYS is bigger than that…centering around a Biblical message of embracing who God made you to be…but additionally… with the greater purpose of learning to embrace the uniqueness of others…in order to work well together as a team, whether in family, at work, or in the church.

This has been Part II of four parts to discovering:
Who Am I? Who Are You? Why Do We Do the Things We Do?
How can we learn to get along better together?
Watch for Part III coming soon!